I love all Cleveland sports in general (heck, all sports, really), but the Browns? I BLEED Orange and Brown. For real.

Oh, you don’t believe me and my dedication?

Check out these photos of me as a baby:that is one adorable Cleveland fan… amiright?

So yeah, it’s in my blood. As terrible as my team is, I can’t look away.

ALL of my friends and family know me as the crazy Cleveland fan. Sure, I get made fun of… which, by the way, is totally not cool – that’s like kicking someone when they’re already down… I mean, the Browns have never been good in my lifetime. What did we do to deserve such mockery?

Don’t answer that.

The only person that rivals my level of Browns fanship would be my dad.

So, what do you do with someone, a friend / family member / co-worker that loves a sports team as much as I love the Browns? Especially during a holiday or gift-giving season?

Well, you can console them for one… which we Browns fans need a lot of…

OR, you can get them team swag to make them feel at least a LITTLE bit better. You know, so they look and feel good while they cheer on their team.

The website and the program were SUPER easy to use. Once I logged in, I was able to pick my NFL team (Cleveland Browns, duh), and then I could even pick what MONTH the calendar started AND I could pick what PLAYERS and what PHOTOS went on every month and even on the cover!

They also have a TON of other gear and swag for sports fans (of ALL sports) – like clothing, car accessories, and even school supplies!! GAH! The best.

Anyway. Back to the calendar.

So, I got to put my FAVORITE players on my favorite months. It was seriously so quick and easy – AND it was delivered FOUR days after I ordered it. WHAT?!

The quality is also REALLY amazing. The images have rich color and it just looks awesome. I love it.

I mean, check this baby out (tiny NFL helmet and tiny Browns truck not included… those are mine):And, well, since I live in the great state of North Carolina which is no where near Ohio, and no where near the television viewing area for the Browns, I have to watch the games on Sunday online…

This is me either cheering at a touchdown or crying because we turned the ball over. Most likely the latter of the two:No, but for real.

Showing off your team spirit has never been easier! Whatever team you root for and whatever sport they play, find the gear you need at SportsFreak365.com. Just in time for the holidays, you can get 30% off any purchase using the code “Clever30.” And while you’re there, be sure to enter to win $500 toward team gear in Ditka’s SportsFreak of the Week Contest!

Are you a Sports Freak? Do you have an undying love for a team that never returns the favor? Do you resort to fan gear for the loved one(s) in your life that loves sports?

I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are 100% my own – I really am a Browns fan… as hard as that is to believe.

Sure, no one REALLY likes change, especially when change isn’t wanted or welcome. The status quo is comfortable, safe, and just “works” for us. Why fix it if it isn’t broken? There’s been some gripe lately about a few changes that are abound or have abounded… I’m not sure if that is the right use of that word there… and I used to be an English teacher, but I don’t really care because it sounds right to me and I like it. So deal.

But let’s face it, when stuff changes that we don’t want to change, we gripe. We complain, we rant, we throw up our arms and say, “TO HELL WIT ‘EM!” Granted, I do this too, sometimes. However, there are just some things that we are going to get used to. We will cry a river, but eventually, we will build that bridge and get over it. Now, of course, there are probably a few exceptions to that rule – and when we know that something is morally wrong or hurts someone, then of course we should gripe until it’s changed… but what I am referring to is not that serious.

Twitter’s New Retweet Feature

Yes, Twitter’s new retweet feature SUCKS. But, let’s be honest, it is not that serious. Some of the biggest complaints are that we can’t add our own 2 cents, that it doesn’t allow for additional commentary. Well, sure, not with the one-click retweet. But guess what you still CAN do? Copy and paste, add your 2 cents, and then type RT in front of it. Sure, it takes longer, but we can do it. Assuming our fingers still work.

And people are griping about seeing people they don’t follow in their timeline. Sure, it’s annoying. Sure, we don’t like strangers in our space, but guess what? In about 3-5 minutes, those people will be gone. More tweets will have come through replacing those of the ones we didn’t know. Phew. Problem averted. It just takes a little patience.

Or, if you use a web client like Tweetie or HootSuite, you don’t have to worry about any of the aforementioned problems.

Facebook’s Change of the News Feed

Facebook changed the user interface again. Now, this is a little bit of old news for most of us. The biggest gripe is coming from businesses who are trying to market themselves using Facebook. Their information is no longer showing up in the News Feed – it is only showing up in the Live Feed, which a user has to CHOOSE to see.

Well, businesses… I guess that means you are going to have to start working harder to engage your customers. The more you engage them, the more involved they become, the more your business will show up on customer’s News Feeds. It actually sounds like a positive problem to me.

I’m just saying.

Twitter’s Trending Topics Being Useless

Yes, 13-year-olds, spammers, and people who have nothing better to do (for the most part) have turned Twitter’s trending topics into something completely useless and borderline inappropriate.

There’s been a lot of talk as to whether or not to do away with trending topics until they provide more value.

I’m going to be honest and say, this is going to be difficult. Twitter has over 33 million users – and I will say that less than half of those users are on Twitter to engage, connect, and relate to people. Many users are on there simply to connect with friends, shoot the sh*t, and tell people what they are eating.

Now, of course, there is a VERY LARGE percentage of Twitter users that use Twitter in a positive, meaningful, and extremely valuable way. I like to think that I am one of those people. We can’t discount those users. At all.

But, I think it’s going to be hard to control the craziness of the trending topics. And seeing as how Twitter exec’s have been handling a lot of Twitter’s issues lately, I will be surprised if they handle this one any better.

But it’s okay, we can search for what we need and what we think is important. We’ll get over it.

The Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football

It is no secret that I am a CLEVELAND BROWNS FAN. No, I’m not from Cleveland. I was born actually in Redskins territory. My dad’s from Cleveland, and therefore, when I exited the womb, I was to be a CLEVELAND fan. It is genetic. I can’t choose who I love, I just do.

And it is no secret that this season, we suck. The Cleveland Browns are a horrible football team right now. No doubt about it. Well, this past Monday, the Cleveland Browns were on Monday Night Football. And it seemed like everyone and their great-aunt’s mother was complaining about it.

Look people, you think it’s tough watching the Browns on Monday Night Football? Try being a Browns fan your ENTIRE life. The only years we were good (the Kosar years), I was wearing a diaper and being fed mashed squash like it was an airplane.

If you don’t want to watch, then turn on something else. Quit complaining, because no one wants to hear it.

LOST is in it’s FINAL season and it doesn’t come on until FEBRUARY 2nd

Okay, maybe not everyone is complaining… maybe it’s more sadness from the Fans. I know I’m sad and I know I’m impatient. But let’s be honest, LOST fans have needed answers for six long years now. We’ve waited for a long time and we can wait a little longer. But all in all, it’s time.

I saw the FINAL SEASON trailer today. It’s going to be a good final season. At least it won’t have a crappy ending like SEINFELD or The SOPRANOS. Or, at least, let’s hope the ending isn’t like that.

——–

Okay, enough out of me. I’m feeling yucky talking about all this negativity. I need to go pet my dog, drink a Diet Coke, and watch this video at least seven times (NSFW – language).

I’ve been hiding this from the world. Not many know this about me. For a long time, my parents didn’t even know. Well, my mom didn’t know, but my dad, deep down, he knew. My sister knew, because I’m close with her. My best friends knew, because they confronted me when I wasn’t cheering for their team. The more I’ve thought about it, the more it has eaten me up inside. And it’s time that I told EVERYONE.

I ALWAYS banked on Bernie.

That’s right, people. I’m… a CLEVELAND BROWNS FAN. Phew! I feel so much better now. Man, does it feel GOOD to get that off my chest! I’ve been afraid for a very long time to admit to the entire WORLD that I’m a Browns fan. Those closest to me always knew that I LOVE me some Bernie Kosar. (By the way, we need him back. I don’t care if he is like 50 something now. He was the best thing to ever happen. to us. ever.). I love me some Brown and Orange. I love me some Dog Pound. I hate me some Ravens.

You know, people have asked me, “Molly, when did you know?” And I say, “I’ve always known.” I’ve been a Browns fan since the day I was born. It’s not in my control. There have been Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays, where I have sat home crying by myself wishing I loved another team. But I don’t, I can’t. No matter how much I beg God to change me, he won’t. I love a horrible football team. It’s in my blood.

We weren’t always horrible. In fact, before the damn Super Bowl existed, we were good. REALLY good. How good? This is how good:

And then, there were the NFL Championships (this was the equivalent of the Super Bowl before the Super Bowl existed):

AAFC Champions: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949

NFL Champions: 1950, 1954, 1955, 1964

We’ve, of course, been to the playoffs. But that’s neither here, nor there.

You know, there was even a time when I couldn’t love any team. I call those the DARK AGES. From 1996-1999 when the evil, EVIL, Art Moddell SOLD my beloved Browns to Baltimore to make an even more evil thing, THE BALTIMORE RAVENS. This is why I hate the Ravens, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, seafood, piers, and Baltimore at large. They stole my team. My players. And then they even won the Super Bowl with them. Have the Browns won a Super Bowl? No.

I don’t want to talk about that.

[*SIDE NOTE: By the way, I put up with the Ravens now because a good friend and sorority sister of mine from college is now a Ravenette. Yes, I know an actual Ravenette. So I deal. ;)]

But now, we’re back. We (the BROWNS) came back in 1999. And we came back not strong. In the 10 years we’ve been back, we’ve had 6 coaches, like 18 offensive coordinators, and a gazillion quarterbacks. We’ve been to the playoffs ONCE since we’ve been back, and that was a lucky shot. I think the Steelers had jaundice that day or something – so that was like beating a kitten in a poker game.

And that leaves me to where I am today. Loving a team that nobody loves. Well, my dad loves them, and this random guy I knew in college loves them. But it’s hard. It’s like being married to a crack addict. You know that they need to get off the crack, and it tears you up inside, but you can’t leave them. … Man, that is a horrible analogy.

You know what I mean. We are heading into Week 7 and the Browns are 1-5. Great.

But I don’t care. I’m going to sport my vintage KOSAR jersey and be proud of who I am and who I love.